IETU is located in Katowice, the capital of Silesia – a region
in Southern Poland. For many years Silesia has been known as one of
the most heavily industrialised and urbanised area in Europe. In the
span of decades industrial activities such as mining, metallurgy,
power generation, chemical industry as well as other branches caused
a dramatic environmental degradation. Transition of Polish economy
enforced weakening the dominant role of heavy industry in the
region, which has been directly reflected by the reduction of
environmental impact, giving - however - raise to new environmental
problems accompanying restructurization of large national industrial
plants, the most urgent of which are large abandoned industrial
sites posing risk to the environment and human health.

Several periods can be identified in the history of IETU
development, each set up by different milestone events. As presented
below, the individual periods have significantly contributed to
building the present potential of the Institute, therefore their
characteristics has been described with stressing the main facts
which are of crucial importance for the development of the Institute.
Also the external conditions cannot be neglected when presenting the
IETU picture today. It should be mentioned, however, that the
development of the scientific background of IETU progressed
alongside the trends and tendencies in approaching the problems of
environmental protection observed and prospected in the world in the
last half of the 20th century and the beginnings of the
21st century.

Deep roots (1948-1966)

The beginnings of the Institute go back to the year 1948, when
the Inter-Voivodeship River Protection Committee was established to
provide foundations of the present Institute. In 1952 this unit was
transformed into the Division of the Institute of Municipal
Management and in 1960 - of the Institute of Water Management. In
these years environmental protection in Poland was centred mainly on
water protection and solid waste management. Only until 1965 the
Institute has investigated as many as 9 400 km of Poland’s
rivers.

Opening the window to the world (1966-1972)

During this period the Institute initiates and conducts its first
international project for WHO/UNDP - Poland 0026. The project was
aimed at developing a model wastewater treatment technology applied
for combined treatment of municipal sewage and industrial wastewater.
In the framework of the project the treatment technology was
implemented in the pilot area embracing several industrial towns of
Silesia. The Project fruited in first international contacts; first
visits of foreign experts took place and Institute's staff members
were sent abroad for fellowships. The Institute opened to the
Western world. At this time, methods of mathematical modelling and
interpretation of the measurement results were developed. They
constituted the basis for new thinking about the environment as a
system of components. The first international contacts facilitated
building the idea for another international project for WHO/UNDP POL/RCE
001, which was started in 1972.

Long-term and system-oriented building of IETU’s foundations
(1972-1982)

In 1972 IETU, the former Katowice Branch of the Institute of
Environmental Protection, received the status of the WHO
Environmental Pollution Abatement Centre (EPAC). Establishing EPAC
was one of the main objectives of UNDP/WHO Project POL/RCE 001
entitled "Environmental Protection". The 7-year Project
was directly aimed at formulating a comprehensive programme of
environmental protection in a selected area of the Upper Silesian
Industrial Region, defined as a model area. Due to its scale the
Project allowed for establishing an extensive database on all
environmental components of the area. The detailed inventory of the
area, including major pollution sources with indication of the
priority goals constituted an input to optimisation studies. The
optimisation studies were the main tool in the development of a
comprehensive plan for pollution control and abatement in the model
area. During the Project a number of seminars and conferences were
organised, which were milestones in the development of methodology
in the Project.

Another WHO/UNDP Project "Environmental Impact Assessment
System" was based on a Project Document approved by UNDP/WHO
and the Polish Government. The Project began in July 1979 and was
completed at the end of 1981. The long-term objective of the Project
was to provide assistance for the Polish Government in incorporating
environmental protection implications into planning policy and
decision-making processes. The Project was aimed at introduction of
a new tool, which would enable dealing with environmental protection
problems on a comprehensive basis. Environmental impact assessment
methodologies provided for an analysis of complex options from the
perspective of a variety of disciplines and time periods. An effort
was made to make EIA methodologies with short and long-term
development plans at central, regional and local level. The EPAC was
responsible for research and co-ordination of the whole Project. As
a principal co-ordinator EPAC produced 25 long reports, 48 short
reports and additional 20 analyses. In order to carry out the
Project successfully a special training Programme in EIA
methodologies for Polish specialists was organised and launched. In
November 1979 a training seminar in Poland was held by Dr. Brian
Clark from the Centre of Environmental Management and Planning in
Aberdeen, Scotland, after which five specialists from the Institute
attended the course on EIA methodologies at the University of
Aberdeen.

In February 1981 a workshop-seminar was organised at Jabłonna,
Poland for 60 specialists. Participation in the project research
work and in the training seminars and courses were the starting
point for establishing a group of EIA specialists who constituted
the beginnings of the list of the Minister's expert group in this
field.

In 1975 the Institute moved to its new facility which enabled
gathering all the departments at one location.

Stabilisation (1982-1989)

A very intensive development of the Institute during the 70’s
and early 80’s was set back at the end of the 80’s due to the
progressing economic and political crisis in the country.

However, despite the difficult political and economic situation
in the country during the 80’s the Institute continued improving
its links with foreign institutions and strengthening its
international role using its position, experience and contacts
gained in previous collaborations.

The Institute masters EIA methodology and its practical
applications developing an Environmental Action Plan for Katowice
and Bielsko-Biała Voivodeship for the years 1985-1995 as an EIA
institutional expert from the Minister's list. At that time,
according to the law, EIA report becomes obligatory for most
investments and many existing large industrial plants. The EIA
experts working in the Institute provided a meaningful input to
these reports.

Already in the 80’s the Institute served as a reference centre
for fellowships and scholarships funded by UNO agendas (WHO, UNDP,
UNIDO). Courses and individual training curricula were developed for
students who were invited to assist in research projects carried out
in the Institute.

Transformation (1989-1992)

The period of transformation overlaps the period of political
changes in Poland. The time of great changes was also the good time
for great changes in the Institute.

A very positive in consequences was a decision of the management
in 1992 concerning the Institute's separation from the structure of
the large Institute of Environmental Protection and gaining
independence as the Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas. Also
adjustment of the IETU's mission to the environmental protection
activities in urbanised and industrialised areas was of great
importance.

Development of the Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas
during the next years reflects the development and implementation of
the principle of sustainable development in Poland.

New Challenges (1992-2001)

As an independent unit IETU was established in 1992 with the
mission of promoting the principle of sustainable development of
urbanised and industrialised areas.

IETU carries out scientific, research and development works as
well as educational activities aimed at addressing problems in
highly urbanised and industrialised areas. Based on its many years'
experience in the area of environmental protection, IETU provides
also expertise and consulting services. IETU performs goal-oriented
projects for all levels of governmental administration, local
governments, industry, other research and development units,
consulting firms as well as for private business. IETU is registered
in the PHARE/TACIS Consultants Register under the number POL 18479
and in the DACON World Bank Database under the number 2312.

Building Potential

Since 1993 an increased dynamics of the Institute’s potential
development can be observed. The management of IETU together with
the Scientific Board decided to enhance the efforts towards building
the multidisciplinary scope of R&D IETU’s potential.

What distinguishes IETU presently from other R&D units in
Poland is its multidisciplinary character of activities. On one hand,
it helps combining the promotion of sustainable development with
technological development, competitiveness, growth and social goals.
On the other hand, it facilitates the IETU's collaboration with
similar units in Europe and worldwide and its participation in
solving problems of European and global dimension. The
multidisciplinary character of the organisation is reflected by the
research agenda and themes

,
which the Institute has been dealing with, as well as educational
background of its scientists.

IETU’s R&D, training and consulting activities focus on:

land management,

integrated atmospheric protection,

management of water resources,

risk analysis and assessment,

soil and groundwater remediation technologies,

integrated environmental monitoring and modelling,

solid and hazardous waste management,

environmental microbiology,

environmental policy,

geostatistical analyses,

public involvement.

Result of external evaluation

Dynamic development of IETU as a leading Polish R&D
institution was already highly evaluated in 1996. In the ranking of
28 Polish research and development units carried out jointly by the
British firm Arthur D. Little and Group for restructurization of
R&D units providing service to industrial sector, IETU
received a score of 19.8 points of the total of 20 and was placed on
the top position. The highest position in the ranking entitled
IETU together with other 6 Polish R&D units to benefit from the
PHARE SCI-TECH restructurization Fund.

Skills

IETU’s staff consists of 95 employees, including 42 researchers,
in that 3 people with a degree of a habilitated doctor and 21 with a
doctor’s degree. The scientific and engineering personnel of IETU
represent a wide variety of scientific disciplines: ecology, biology,
microbiology, environmental engineering, environmental chemistry,
pharmacy, economics, physics, computer science, mathematics and
environmental policy. Beside their basic professional education,
many of IETU’s staff members have completed area-specific training
or post-graduate studies both in Poland and during fellowships
abroad. During its whole history the Institute has promoted over 10
associate professors and 37 doctors. Professors of the Institute
were promoting many doctoral studies. They are members of scientific
boards of universities and are active as didactic staff in Silesian
academies. They also belong to scientific organisations (scientific
committees of the Polish Academy of Sciences) and international
organisations (Environmental Directorate of OECD).

Seventy percent of IETU’s staff speaks English.

Polish Thematic Network for Environmental
Technologies

Polish Thematic Network for
Problems of Air Pollution and Climate Change